James and Elizabeth Kitching Hooker migrated from Tennessee to Missouri to Texas, and by 1842 James had claimed a headright grant for 640 acres in the extreme northwest corner of what was then Nacogdoches County. In 1846 he helped organize Hunt County as one of its five original commissioners, was elected its first probate judge, and represented the county in the Fourth and Sixth Legislature and the Secession Convention. Hooker Cemetery was established in the southwest corner of James Hooker’s original land grant, and its first burial was Ann R. Hooker, who died October 3, 1851. By the early 1900s the land was owned by Nathan Rabb, a son-in-law of James Hooker, who deeded 8.4 acres to the cemetery, and in 2003 Sherman Chapman and Rita Shepherd deeded an adjoining 2.5 acres for future expansion. The cemetery’s name has always been Hooker Cemetery, though local people have also referred to it as Hooker Ridge Cemetery because of its location in the Hooker Ridge Community. Early settlers brought enslaved people with them, and oral history says several are buried in unmarked probable graves along the west edge of the original section. Of about 1,000 marked graves, only 33 date from before 1900, and veterans of six wars are buried there. Formed in the 1920s to provide ongoing care and incorporated in 1974, the Hooker Cemetery Association administers and maintains the cemetery, establishes burial fees and regulations, and meets annually to elect officers and conduct business.